Mom says bullying of her daughter at Bonita school shows law doesn't go far enough

The Lee County School District, like all districts in Florida, has adopted a bullying and harassment policy. Districts were required to adopt policies to comply with the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act, a bill named after a Cape Coral teenager who killed himself after being bullied.

"Every day that I would pick her up, it would be worse. I told them, ‘It's a problem because every day I pick her up she is crying and telling me she hates going to school,'" Jennifer Waters said of her daughter.

BONITA SPRINGS _ Jennifer Waters remembers watching her daughter cry daily when she picked her up from school.

The Bonita Springs mother recalls her daughter, now a fifth-grader at Spring Creek Elementary School, telling her about being threatened by another student and being told she was part of a "pathetic club," among other insults.

After months of complaining to school officials — she said it was once suggested to her that she have her daughter change schools — and an incident in which the bully gave her daughter a cookie that caused a severe allergic reaction, Waters had enough.

Now, she hopes her experience will show that while school districts in Florida are working on bullying, they aren't doing enough.

"Parents need to know their kids are safe at school," she said.

The Lee County School District, like all districts in Florida, has adopted a bullying and harassment policy. Districts were required to adopt policies to comply with the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act, a bill named after a Cape Coral teenager who killed himself after being bullied.

"Our primary goal is to encourage ongoing communication between these parties to work toward resolving issues that ensure the safety and security of students in schools, free from fear of bullying, to provide safe, positive learning environments for all," wrote Tom Butler, press secretary for the Florida Department of Education.

The district's definition of bullying is "systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students or employees. It is further defined as unwanted and repeated written, verbal or physical behavior ... that is severe or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment."

Bullying includes teasing, social exclusion, threats, intimidation, stalking, theft, public humiliation and destruction of property, among other definitions.

The policy states that when bullying occurs, anyone who has witnessed the harassment or anyone who had credible information that bullying has taken place can report it. School employees are required to report it. When bullying or harassment is reported, the school is required to investigate, according to the policy.

The problem, Waters said, is that the reports of bullying by Waters and her daughter's teacher went unheard. Although the bullying and teasing started in third grade, in fourth grade things got bad.

"Every day that I would pick her up, it would be worse. I told them, ‘It's a problem because every day I pick her up she is crying and telling me she hates going to school,'" Waters said.

The last straw, Waters said, came when the school called her to pick up her daughter when they believed she had chicken pox.

"She had red bumps all over her body, but she had the chicken pox vaccine," she said. "I knew what it was. The bumps were hives and she was having trouble breathing. She's allergic to cinnamon."

In the 2007-08 school year, which is the last year for which the state has data, there were 809 incidents of harassment in Lee County public schools, including 226 reports of bullying. Those figures were down significantly from the 1,032 incidents of harassment reported by the district in 2006-07.

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Collier County had 158 incidents of harassment in 2007-08, including 56 incidents of bullying.

Waters got her daughter an antibiotic, which helped her breathe. The school sent home a note to parents indicating her child had chicken pox, Waters said.

But her daughter told a different story. She told Waters that the girl who had been bullying her had shoved a cinnamon cookie in her face.

"Everyone in that class knows my daughter is allergic to cinnamon," she said. "I don't think she knew how it could affect my daughter, but I think she knew it could hurt her."

Waters said she contacted Spring Creek Elementary Principal Karen Leonardi, but said Leonardi tried to tell her the student didn't intentionally try to make her daughter sick. But Leonardi agreed to initiate an investigation, Waters said.

Leonardi declined comment, saying statements by the district or school would be "inappropriate."

It wasn't until another parent confirmed the bullying, Waters said, and she filed a police report, that the school started to listen. Eventually, students in Waters' daughters class came forward and talked about the bullying they had seen.

Waters said she had to be told by her daughter of what happened and that the school eventually told her the girl admitted what she had done to Waters' daughter.

But when she asked what happened to the student, the school wouldn't tell her what happened except to say that the girl was punished.

The Lee County School District's policy said consequences for students who commit acts of bullying or harassment can range from positive behavioral interventions up to and including suspension or expulsion. However, the district's policy provides that notification will be consistent with the student privacy rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, which doesn't allow the district to disclose the student's record without permission of the parents.

"Our primary goal is to work toward resolving issues that ensure the safety and security of students in schools, free from fear of bullying, to provide safe, positive learning environments for all. This stands true for all students, both the victim and alleged bully," Butler said.

The district also has to report the incidents to the state. In the 2007-08 school year, which is the last year for which the state has data, there were 809 incidents of harassment in Lee County public schools, including 226 reports of bullying. Those figures were down significantly from the 1,032 incidents of harassment reported by the district in 2006-07.

Comparatively, Collier County had 158 incidents of harassment in 2007-08, including 56 incidents of bullying.

"Our primary goal is to work toward resolving issues that ensure the safety and security of students in schools, free from fear of bullying, to provide safe, positive learning environments for all. This stands true for all students, both the victim and alleged bully," said Tom Butler, press secretary for the Florida Department of Education.

Still, Butler said the law required school districts to submit their bullying policies for review by Oct. 1, 2008, and all policies were approved by December 2008. So the 2008-09 figure represents about a half-year's data under the new bullying policies.

"The 2009-10 (report) will not be finalized before March 2011, but the preliminary state total for 2009-10 is 6,134 and is subject to change as districts update their data," Butler wrote. "You may not be able to draw any conclusions based on these numbers, but in general an increase often means better awareness, investigation, and enforcement at the district and/or school level."

Waters also asked that the district investigate whether Spring Creek Elementary followed protocol in its response to the issue.

When asked about a possible investigation by the district, Lee County schools spokesman Joe Donzelli said the district "cannot provide information-documentation that would involve specific students as any sort of documentation that would involve a child is exempt from public disclosure.

"I would not be able to provide any sort of report investigating an alleged case of bullying as it would directly involve a student or several students," he wrote.

Waters said she had a meeting with school officials who offered to move her daughter to another campus. It was an offer she said she was horrified to receive.

"Why does my daughter have to leave? She's the victim. The girl who did this to her should be the one to leave," she said. "After everything my daughter's been through, they want to take away her friends? She did nothing wrong."

When asked if it would be easier to remove her daughter from a bad situation, Waters said she doesn't want to teach her daughter to run away from problems.

"Why should she have to finish elementary school somewhere else when she did nothing wrong?" she asked.

Instead, when she was informed by school officials that they wouldn't be removing the other girl, Waters and the school agreed that the two students should be placed in separate classrooms for fifth-grade this fall. They have separate lunch times and don't participate in the same classes.

But Waters said her child still is being punished.

"Their classroom is in a pod with younger kids. Rather than have lunch with the rest of the fifth-graders, they eat with second- and third-grade students," she said. "The bully's class gets to participate with the fifth-graders in all events."

Waters said she hopes school boards across the state realize it is important to enforce their policies, something that failed her daughter.

"How could this go on for so long and it took something so severe to happen for anyone to do anything about it? They are not protecting these kids," she said.